Page 747 - Neglected Arabia (1916-1920)

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NEGLECTED ARABIA

Missionary News and Letters
Published Quarterly

FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION AMONG THE FRIENDS OF
THE ARABIAN MISSION

Sheikh Ahmed Goes To London

Dr. C. Stanley G. Mylrea.

O OME time ago an article appeared in “Neglected Arabia" entitled •:
“The Haji." The central figure m that article was the heir to
O the Kuweit throne. Sheikh Ahmed bin Jabr. who in the summer
of 1918 showed his devotion as one ot the leading men ot this side
of Arabia, by visiting the Holy City of Mecca. In Mecca, ho'vevw;
not only came into contact with the past, but a so Ul Powerful
present, in the person of Hussein, king ot Hejaz. ^ t
man in Arabia today, and whose son. the Emir Feisul uasa si
to the Treaty of Versailles, besides being a fairly tamihar fiS^re 1
London. Hussein’s knowledge of the world must h^e made no
impression on our simple-minded stay-at-home » ra •
was Ahmed’s preparation for a second journey w IC1 ^
political and not a religious pilgrimage, for in ie e ■
1919 he received an invitation to visit King George • iqio 5, \
for a few weeks the hospitality of the British ^ cs.
found Ahmed residing in London. .
It is a bad time of the year for an Oriental to see London for the
first time. The days are short, it rains three da\s ou ’•
those thick, pea-soup fogs for which London is tamous m , ’
are apt to descend with unwelcome frequency. The sun is s -
seen and it is probable that Sheikh Ahmed and his sui . I
able to see the horizon at sunset, in order to ^et t eir wa •*
everyone knows the Arab’s day begins at sunset. ien i 1 ,
o’clock. Ahmed thought the English houses were o\e\ i \
outside “they are s.o black and gloomy. Anyone picturing
London house on a wet. foggy day. will agree with him. e \
impressed with the fact that no matter how much it raine •
were never really dirty. “Their roads are iron, fie (0<rar * •
never went out except in a car. principally because he it n J -
being stared at—he probably appreciates now what the w u e P P
went through during the first year or so that they sett e m *
\\ hen asked why he did not affect European dress and t uis a\ i